Notes / Commercial Description:
This world famous bock from Bavaria’s Holy Mountain is not meant to be rushed, but savoured slowly. As solid as a rock, Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel presides over the evening meal with a colour reminiscent of dark copper with nuances of fiery red. Its clear gleaming look harmonises with its firm, fine pored head.

Also the aroma delights the connoisseur: soft roasted accents and a nuance of dried fruit carrying a vein of caramel. This Doppelbock Dunkel from Bavaria’s Holy Mountain presents a pleasant effervescence. And then there’s the unmistakable flavour: mouthcoating and velvety, strong and yet pleasantly malty – a powerful, robust body. At the same time, it develops an easily recognisable sweetness, embraced in roasted cocoa and a light, bitter hoppiness.

Concluding with a powerful punch, this Doppelbock departs with a lingering aftertaste of quality plain chocolate. A strong Doppelbock that embodies the centuries old Benedictine brewing tradition, sip by delicious sip.

My wife makes frequent trips to Germany (mostly Frankfurt), and brings this home on the plane. A Wegmans near us in Woodbridge VA is just starting to stock it. It is always terrific and the best of the German Doppelbocks IMHO. Our favorite beer, and I have a couple cases in my wine cellar at 57 degrees F right now (if I can keep my wife and son out of there!).

Poured into a Celebrator pokal. Pours a medium to dark mahogany amber with a thin khaki head that had decent retention and light lacing. Rich malt aroma of caramel malt, brown bread, nuts and dark dried fruit. Flavor follows, with dark bready and caramel malt up front backed by dark dried fruit, particularly figs and dates, a little dark fresh fruit, a hint of rye. Mild grassy hops in the finish. Good medium body with active carbonation (not producing much of a head, oddly enough). A rich, satisfying doppelbock with the best dark brown bread character of any I've tried. Lots of depth and smooth into the finish. A tempting malt bomb of a beer. Glad this brewery is available again in the Northwest.

T: A rich wave of rye and nuttiness right away. Middle is primarily dark fruit, with a bit of banana and raisin skin. Light cocoa, molasses and rye crust on the finish. Very well balanced. A really solid doppel.

Mouthfeel - Medium high-carbonation, watery, not the malty feast that a doppelbock should be.

Overall - I've heard rumors that this beer has gone downhill and/or has infection reports, etc., just wasn't sure how true/extensive it was. Though this wasn't awful, it was easy to see this isn't the beer it could or should be. Not sure if recent reviewers are obliviously blinded by its past reputation and overall rating or if I just got unlucky on this bottle, but either way, an unfortunate disappointment.

M: curvaceously round up front, drops (vanishes) off dangerously dry... the burnt elements keep the palate feeling like you've been inhaling campfire throughout the night (guess that's more part of the "taste"?)

O: I've had this quite a few times vom Faß at Brauhaus Schmitz recently before finding this in a bottle, plopping down, and recording my thoughts... this was great the first time I had it, and it's growing on me more and more... this is a beer by which other beers should be graded... hopefully, it'll stay around town here for a long while

Poured a dark copper clear color with a 4F head into a pilsner glass.
Nice looking beer.

The aroma is not as strong as other Doppelbocks- some figs and toffee- but mild.

Mouth feel is malty- relatively smooth and works well with this beer.

Taste: deeper than other Doppelbocks. More breadth, malt, figs.
There was too much bitterness in the finish for this style.

Overall- quite good, but there are other beers in the style I prefer. I like the deep malt-fig character, but the bitterness is too pronounced. I would prefer more malt, stronger fig in the aroma.
The bottle date was late December- perhaps the beer was past its prime. Nevertheless, quite good.

Pours a dark brown copper red color. A large head forms and fades but overall good retention. Smells of sweet toffee and a strong malt presents. The taste starts with a strong toasted malt and sweetness of toffee, carmel with raisin and chocolate. There is a subtle complexity. A faint bitter and dry finish. Creamy, smooth, and perfect carbonation. Overall, a great doppelbock. May not be at the same level as Celebrator but close. I'll be looking for it in the future.

Andech's classic doppelbock emerges from the bottle and fills the stein with a gleaming chestnut brown liquid that shows amazing ruby highlights when backlit. Micro carbonation moves up the body, keeping the ecru head sustainable. The foam is creamy and dense while showing no signs of disappearing. Heavy drink lines decorate the glass with each swig.

A meal in a glass, no doubt about it. The nose is impossibly bready. It's rich, slightly sweet, a touch nutty. I always get the faintest touch of lactic sweetness from rich doppelbocks, no different here. A barely there, faint floral note runs along the rear. This beer simply makes my mouth water.

Bread, bread, and more bread. There's a touch of sweetness and a sliver of nuttiness as in the nose. A touch of florals flit throughout but this is all about dough and warm bread. Very substantial and satisfying. Not much to say but delicious.

There's a fair amount of heft, again, substantial. The body is velvety smooth with a palate coating softness. When considering the ABV drinkability is flat out off the charts. There's weight but it's not filling. There's sweetness but in no way cloying.

This just happens to be the standard bearer of the style. It's clean, delicious, full of flavor, and simply mouthwatering. I dare you to dislike this beer. It's impossible. Now that it's in the states it will be a staple in my fridge.

Pours a beautiful dark copper, slight hints of red (clear) with a two inch light tan, bubbly head. This a very well balanced and flavorful beer. Amazing notes of caramel, roasted malts and dried fruits. Smooth, a bit sticky on the lips in the finish. Medium bodied and goes down easy. Can easily see the high rating for this and I'm glad I was able to finally grab a bottle.

No bottle date that I can find, this just hit the stores around here a few weeks ago.

A: Medium-dark brown with red highlights. Good sized light brown head, quite fizzy and effervescent. Head fades quickly at first but then slows down. Good head retention as it never seems to fully fade away. Nice little walls of lacing too.

T: Again with the hard root beer candies, especially up front. Caramel sweetness joins it. Some toffee and umami in the middle. Dark fruits everywhere, primarily raisins but fig too I'd say? Cocoa is everywhere too, primarily towards the back end. Sweet bread in the finish with lingering root beer in the aftertaste with some herbal qualities.

M: Surprisingly heavy and full bodied for 7.1%. Smooth.

O: Interesting beer. Never had a doppelbock that tasted like those hard root beer barrels you had as a kid. I assume it's some sort of herbal quality combined with caramel sweetness that is making the association for me. Very unique brew. Strong flavors for only 7.1%. Great complexity and balance too.

A - Brownish/ruby red appearance with a one finger head. Decent lace retention on the glass

S - Nothing discernible for me. Some light malts and a little caramel possibly, a little bit of a letdown

T - WOW! An absolute stud. Malts, toffee, caramel, cocoa, milk chocolate. They all meld together perfectly. Pretty complex and unlike anything I have tasted. This is so different and so good!

M - Medium to full body feel, mild carbonation that rolls off the palate pretty smooth

O - Most importantly the taste takes the cake here. It totally raises the stock for me in this one. So unique and savoring. Although the other attributes aren't quite there, the taste of this beer is truly world class.

A: hazy brown, minimal lacing. Small head. Beautiful color though in the right light.
S: nothing too strong here. Some boozy aromas. Light malt smell
T: fantastic. Boozy notes up front with standard raisin taste of beers in this style but then finished with incredibly complex flavors. Like a cocoa. Wonderful lingering aftertaste. Lasts for a very long time.
M: amazing. The alcohol up front just tingles the palate but then you get the perfect carbonation and aforementioned lingering taste.
O: An amazing example of how good dark German beers can be. If you live boozy dark Belgians try something like this and you'll be amazed

dark in color but still clear. amber highlights. little head that fades. rich malty aroma - flavors of caramel, pipe tobacco, and plum. same in the taste, very good. low carbonation. the beer coats the mouth, appropriate for the style.

overall a very good doppelbock, approaching Celebrator and Samichlaus.

T -- Rich, bready malt -- very pumpernickel-like with a sweet molasses and bready toastiness. There is some underlying bitterness from hops in balance, a light hint of dark fruits, more bready sweetness in the finish and a dry, peppery character from alcohol in the aftertaste -- but stopping just shy of hot.

M -- Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with a dry finish and a medium body bordering on full.

O -- A very classic rendition of the style, yet definitely projecting its own character to distinguish itself. The Andechs is a little drier in the finish than other Doppels, yet the dark bread character up front is just what German (specifically Bavarian) brewers produce so much better than the majority of US micros can duplicate.

M: Medium body, high carbonation that bights the tongue, creamy feel on back-end, and a slight alcohol feeling that builds throughout the pint without being overwhelming.

O: Bottom line - This is Korbinian with not as great of an appearance, but with a slightly better mouthfeel. Andechs and Korbinian are top Bavarian doppelbocks, with Celebrator slightly behind them because it is not as robust.

Deep chestnut / mahogany in color. Impressive head formation and retention. There's some lace formation, but it's spotty. Aroma is malt-forward in every way. Toasted grain and fresh-baked bread upfront followed by a rich, toffee-like note. Only the faintest trace of alcohol to let you know this is more than a plain-old Dunkel. Faint floral hoppiness.

While many doppels come across as too malty-sweet to me, this isn't one of them. The balance is just about spot-on. That faint hoppiness on the nose is more prevalent here and able to stand up to all the sugars. Overall flavor is dominated by toasty malt, very much like a standard Munich Dunkel. A bit of nutty flavor. Mouthfeel is quite smooth, bordering on a creamy texture, thanks to the carbonation being soft. For a relatively strong beer, it's all too easy to knock back a pint of this and still be up for another.

I'd sum up Andechser's Doppelbock as a robust Dunkel lager. While it doesn't quite have the depth of flavor that Celebrator (my and many others' top pick for doppels) has, it does nothing wrong.